Monday, September 30, 2013

Whenever
I talk or write about the fact that most people think thinking is hard work so
they don’t do it I wonder how many folks are turned off?

I
can hear’em, “That Collins guy is such a jerk!”

Believe
me, I’ve been called worse…much worse…by people who are bigger, meaner, richer,
smarter and more intimidating than the people who might yap at and about me.

But,
the only way you can get where you want to go in life is by thinking. Recently,
speaker and author Brian Tracy talked about two types of thinking: Type 1 and
Type 2.

Type
1 thinking is what we do almost all day, every day. Type 1 thinking is fast and jumps around to
many different topics.

Type
2 thinking is much slower, deeper and more focused. Type 2 thinking is what we
have to do when we are planning and making important life decisions. Setting
aside some time each day for Type 2 thinking is a key to a successful day and
successful life.

A
friend from long ago taught me that if you spend about 20 minutes at the
beginning of each day doing some Type 2 thinking you accomplish much more than
you might have and it’s easier to stay focused on important tasks.

Thursday, September 26, 2013

I’ve
always liked taking surveys, assessments and tests that show me who I am (or
who the test said I was supposed to be).

The
Greek philosopher Aristotle said self-knowledge is the best knowledge. He
also said it's the hardest to gain.

I believe the more I know about myself the better I can manage
myself. And, my fundamental belief is that unless you can prove to me that I
get another ride through life I’m going to try and make the best of this one
trip I have. Being able to better manage myself seems like the key to
appreciating, enjoying and managing my one life experience.

Last
night I was retaking the DiSC survey, an assessment I took over a decade ago; it’s one of the most popular behavioral assessments. A leadership group I’m
teaching today will take it and I’m facilitating the exercise so I thought I
should refresh my memory of it.

One
of the best things about surveys and assessments of this type is the surprise
factor. You read through the descriptions and think, “Yep, that’s me. Uh, huh,
I’m like that.” Most of the time those thoughts have to do with the good stuff
and the mildly questionable stuff.

But,
when we read the descriptions that essentially say, “You’re not a nice person.
Left to your own devices you’d be cutting your neighbors’ heads off and burying
them in the back yard,” you think, “Well, jeepers! That’s not me!”

Maybe
not. Or, maybe.

We’re
never all of what we see in the surveys. Some of the stuff is spot on and other
descriptions are so far off it’s as if they are describing another person.

And
they are. We are lots of people, lots of options and lots of behaviors wrapped
up in one package. The variety of experiences, our genetic makeup and the
simple chemical combinations that rule our brains and bodies mean we’ll come
out as a wild combination that equals a human.

However,
having said all that…it’s not a bad idea to get a reading on some of the things
we think, do, say and feel.

You
can find free personality tests, leadership style surveys and relationship
quizzes just by using those phrases to search the Internet.

Who
am I? The answer might entertain, enlighten or frighten you.

The
real question is: Who are You?

PS: If you're wondering how my survey turned out after more than a decade of living and growing since the last time I took it....it's much the same as it was except the dominant characteristic--the personality type that wants to make people do what you demand--is even more dramatically a part of my personality. If you're one of my neighbors you might want to keep a back yard light on.

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

If
I asked you, “What have been the two major advancements in your field, industry
or job during the last decade?” could you tell me?

If
you could, that’s great! Your knowledge means you’re doing a reasonably good
job of staying on top of what’s going on in your profession.

In
fact, it probably means you’re doing a much better job than most of your peers.

Most
people learn about 80% of what they need to do to function within the first 18
months of starting a job. Then, they pick up some of the finer points here and
there and usually learn just enough to keep the job.

The
number of people who actively seek out new knowledge and attempt to grow in the
job is small…probably 15-18%.

I’d
love to ask folks to learn something new every day but for most people that’s
too much of an effort.

So,
here’s the deal: Try to learn one new thing about your job every week. Read an
article online or in an industry magazine, talk to someone who has a skill you
don’t have or who is better at a task than you are, try a little bit of
something new to improve a skill.

You
don’t have to go to a lot of effort to improve and every time you improve you
make yourself more valuable in the workplace.

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Today
is National One Hit Wonder Day. It celebrates those musicians and songs that
became hits and then you never heard from them again. Or, musicians who have
one song that overshadows all their other work can become known as one hit
artists.

The
term is also used in business. For example, software companies known for one
product can become seen as one hit wonders.

However,
being a one hit wonder is not necessarily a bad thing. The one hit can be big
enough that it lasts a lifetime.

There’s
a wonderful saying, “You only have to get rich one time if you know how to keep
it.”

Unfortunately,
most of us don’t even have one hit. So, go for your one hit and then look for
ways to build on it.

Monday, September 23, 2013

(please
excuse me for a little bit of a rant first thing on Monday morning)

Last
Friday morning I presented a program about change to a state association group of
about 350 people in Asheville. About 5 minutes into the program a group of
three women got up and started to sneak their way out the back doors.

I’ve
had this happen before and I always make a crack about it, “Whoa! Don’t leave
yet! I’m not that bad!”

It
always gets a laugh—and some groans from folks who don’t think I should be
calling out the leavers—and then I move on with the program.

I’ve
asked other professional speakers if they call out those folks who are trying
to sneak out and the numbers of who do and don’t are pretty much split down the
middle.

Here’s
why I do it: I’ve been speaking professionally for long enough to know who the
leavers are and why they leave. They are people who don’t respect what I do,
don’t respect the people who worked hard to put together the conference and don’t
respect their own jobs. They look at conference attendance not as a
professional growth opportunity but as paid vacation days, a way to get away
from work and still get paid.

And,
don’t tell me, “They might just be going to the bathroom.” Not three at a time.
“Maybe they are getting an early start on the long trip home.” That’s fine, but
don’t stick your organization with another night in an expensive hotel. Leave
at the end of the previous day.

A
few years ago I was in Greensboro when the early-leaving situation occurred and
I handled it the same way. In fact, people came up to me after the program and
applauded me for calling out the early-leavers. Later that evening, in the
hotel lobby, I ran into the people who left early and I asked them why. They
said, “There’s a sale at Lane Bryant and we wanted to get there early.”

Professionalism
on parade.

I
realize that not everyone loves what they do, like I do. But, if you aren’t
going to act like a professional, stay home.

Thursday, September 19, 2013

On
this day in 1982, Professor Scott E. Fahlman of Carnegie Mellon University
proposed that humorously intended computer messages be punctuated with a , colon,
hyphen and parentheses, creating a horizontal “smiley face.”

Monday, September 16, 2013

Evidently,
it rained after my delivery guy tossed my newspapers into the yard. Both of
them were soaked.

My
first thought was to take them in the house, spread’em out, dry’em out, and
then read.

Then
a thought hit me as if someone had popped me on the back of the head.

What
is the likelihood that there is anything in those papers that will
affect my daily life? What is the likelihood that I can’t walk in the house and
with a few clicks get whatever is in the papers online?

I
know, I know…I’ve understood the logic for years, but until this morning the
reality had not hit me.

So
often in our lives we have to experience the reality of a change—feel it—before
we make it happen in our lives.

Another
quick shower just blew by as I was writing that last sentence. It was almost as
if life was giving me a simple reminder.

What’s
staring you in the face? You know the logic of it, but the reality of how it
affects your life really hasn’t bit you? If you’ll go ahead and accept the
reality and act on it how can you use it to change your life for the better?

I
like walking outside in the morning to get the paper, I enjoy the ritual of
eating a light breakfast and reading, I love the feel of turning the pages of a
newspaper, but are those things enough to keep doing what I’m doing? If they
are, if their value is great enough, that’s fine.

But,
if there is a faster, cheaper, easier, more efficient and more effective way to
reach a goal maybe it’s time to change.

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Whenever
9/11 rolls around it always seems trivial to talk about anything other than
What Happened.

(If
you are easily stressed or shocked you’ll probably want to stop reading and
move on right now.)

So
often, when I see pictures relating to What Happened I think about the people
at the windows…and their two choices.

We
all have choices to make in life; jobs, companions, habits, diets,
attitudes…all kinds of choices that define the type of life we have.

We
rarely have a choice that determines the type of death we’ll experience.

The
choice we rarely have to make was this: Until about an hour ago you were in
your office or your cubicle. You were annoyed that your stapler was out of
staples. You had to choose whether you’d have more sugar with your coffee
(because you know it’s not really good for you) or whether or not to say
something about that dope in the next office who sounds like he’s yelling into
his phone.

But,
not now.

Now
your office is an inferno. The fire is like something alive—which it is—and it
is a monster consuming everything it touches. Your desk is in flames. You can
see it across the hall and you can see those cute little pictures of your kids,
the ones you made a few weeks ago at the Outer Banks, those shots are already
cracked and burned. And that award you won last spring at the annual banquet,
the brass is reflecting the orange/red flames leaping in front of it.

You
can feel the heat of the fire. And it’s rapidly getting hotter…and you know the
monster is coming for you….and you know the choice is coming.

So
you put your foot on the window sill. You’re sixty floors up and the windows
are made so that they don’t open like they might if you were a few floors up in
an older building. Someone threw a couch through the window and there’s broken
glass around the edge. There’s a bit of blood on one of the edges…you know how
it got there but you don’t want to think about it.

The
wind is howling by the window with a sound that reminds you of a dragon’s roar…another
monster…one inside and one outside. It’s as if stepping up and into the window
is like stepping into the mouth of the dragon.

You
look out the window and see a snapshot of some of The City. You see TV and
police helicopters circling. It seems that some of the cameras pointing out of
the sides of the TV choppers are pointed right at you. You wonder if those
happy children whose photos are already smoke and cinders will see you on the
news tonight.

And
you look back into the room and the fire is getting closer and the choice is
almost at hand.

The
monster inside or the monster outside.

That’s
really the choice, isn’t it?...to let the monster inside consume you or to step
into the dragon’s mouth.

And
then you realize there might be another choice…to see if you can fly.

Fire
or fly.

Looking
at it that way changes the choice, doesn’t it?

Time
is getting short.

You
knew someone else made the choice when you saw the bit of blood on the glass at
the edge of the window. Maybe they flew.

You
put your hands on the edge of the window and glass nicks the meaty part of your
hand.

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Yesterday, I had lunch
at KFC. When I was a little boy in Lumberton, NC, I remember when KFC, or as we
knew it at the time, Kentucky Fried Chicken, came to town. The franchise
operated out of a trailer and fast food franchises were new to us so food
ALREADY COOKED that Mama brought home was really cool!

Now, KFC, in a nod to
a more health-concious nation offers grilled chicken that is really good. In a
less than health-concious nod to lunch I had grilled chicken, mac and cheese,
and cole slaw.

As I was finishing my
side dishes…or, maybe I should say, “side samples,” in a nod to portion size, I
noticed that the small, plastic containers are made so the bottoms aren’t flat,
they are convex…if you hold them and look into the container the bottom curves
towards you. This means there is less room in the container for product. It
means they are giving us less food.

I certainly understand
it’s a trend that allows companies to make more profit. If you pick up an 8 oz.
container (or what looks like one) of shampoo in the grocery store it won’t
contain 8 oz., it contains 7.5 oz. They’re doing it to milk, salad dressing,
you name it.

Lots of us do it at
work. We leave a few minutes early, get there a few minutes late or take a few
more minutes for lunch…almost every day. In new research about telecommuting
many of the telecommuters confessed that they work fewer hours when working at
home than they do if they are at the office.

KFC has passed through
a number of corporate hands. It’s been a long time since the late-Col. Sanders
ran the company. But, I’ve got to believe that if Harland Sanders ran KFC today
they wouldn’t slight us on the mac and cheese and the cole slaw.

Thursday, September 5, 2013

Just pulled my
exercise bike out in front of the house and put a “Take It!” sign on it.

I decided that if I
wasn’t going to use it maybe someone else could get some good from it.

I was motivated to
make the move when I read that 700 airline attendants revealed that among the
items air passengers have left on planes are a live parrot, a box of dried
fish, a toupee, handcuffs and a glass eye.

Now, it could just be
me, but I figured if someone can do without a glass eye and a toupee I can do
without an exercise bike I don’t use, anyway.

I mean, I can
understand the parrot, the dried fish and the handcuffs…those are optional
kinds of items...well…maybe not the handcuffs, it just kind of depends of your
interest…mmm…ok….maybe later on that one.

If you have stuff you
don’t use, give it away, toss it, recycle/repurpose it, barter with it just get
it out of your life and you’ll have less
clutter. Every year I try to get rid of books, CDs, magazines, clothes, furniture…lots
of the stuff cluttering up my life.

And I still have too
much stuff! I’m determined that when I die I’ll be buried in the few items I
have in my closet and they’ll give away the rest of my stuff at the wake. Ha!
Or, as in the 1964, Anthony Quinn movie, Zorba
the Greek, my neighbors will run in my house and steal everything when
they learn I’ve croaked.

Speaking of
croaking…or choking…all 25,000 students who took an entrance exam for the
University of Liberia failed the test. An official said, “They lacked
enthusiasm.”

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Welcome back from
Labor Day! Hope you had a safe and restful holiday...or, a wildly scary and
wonderfully exciting holiday.

Now, wake up! Here’s
the reality: We have 85 days until the next holiday, Thanksgiving.

Here’s the reason the
math is important: 2013 is two-thirds over…done…fini…can't get it back…gone
forever.

And what have you done
with the previous two-thirds of the year?

While on a trip last
week I asked myself, “Mike, the year is two thirds over and what have you
accomplished? Are you any closer to reaching the goals you set at the first of
the year? How close are you to making some of your ideas realities?”

I’m not sure I liked
my answer. I’ve blistered through some goals and that tells me I need to set
them a little higher. But, with a lot of other things I’ve let a range of
obstacles, irritants, people, lack of resources (or, perceived lack), laziness,
ignorance, injuries, more laziness and cosmic stumbling blocks slow me down.

Here’s the deal: We
all have one-third of the year left in terms of days. But, you know how this
works. Once it gets to Thanksgiving…then just around the corner is Christmas
and New Year’s Eve and Day. So, what most of us do is start slowing down around
Thanksgiving in order to enjoy the holidays and revel/wallow in whatever
victories we’ve had during 2013…or, gloomily wallow in the recognition of our
lack of accomplishment.

What will you do with
the next 85 days? What will I do with the next 85 days?

Contact

Mike Collins is president of The Perfect Workday Company, an information company based in The Research Triangle Region of North Carolina. He presents 100+ programs a year for organizations such as IBM, American Express, Novo Nordisk Pharmaceuticals and The John F. Kennedy Special Warfare School and Center.